Risk Factors Associated with Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy in Patients with a Preoperative Diagnosis of Ductal Carcinoma <i>In Situ</i>

Abstract

Purpose: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy has become the gold standard for axillary staging of invasive breast cancer. However, some controversy has existed concerning the usefulness of SLN biopsy in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). In this study, we tried to identify the usefulness of SLN biopsy in patients with an initial preoperative diagnosis of DCIS. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using single-center data of 415 patients with an initial diagnosis of DCIS between January 2003 and December 2013. Many features were correlated with upstaging and positive SLN biopsy using univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. Results: A total of 415 patients with a preoperative diagnosis of DCIS were enrolled in this study. Total 320 of 415 patients (77.1%) underwent axillary evaluation via SLN biopsy, axillary lymph node dissection, or additional axillary lymph node dissection, and 24 of 320 patients (7.5%) were diagnosed with axillary lymph node metastasis or micrometastases in the lymph nodes. Of 415, 296 patients (71.3%) underwent SLN biopsy and 16 patients (5.4%) had positive SLN biopsy. The rate of upstaging to invasive cancer was 4.1% (17 of 415 patients) on final pathology. Of the 17 patients who were upstaged to invasive carcinoma at final pathology, seven patients (41.2%) had a positive SLN biopsy. The statistically significant factors of upstaging were large tumor size (≥2 cm), histologic features of intermediate or high-grade tumor, and positive SLN biopsy. Conclusion: SLN biopsy should be considered in patients with high risk DCIS as a part of the primary surgical procedure. Keywords: Breast; Noninfiltrating intraductal carcinoma; Sentinel lymph node biopsy